Device for protection against poison gases



April 2, 1940. L. GRANGER. FlLS DEVICE FOR PROTECTION AGAINST POISONGASES Filed March 11, 1937 m w E M Lou/5 GEE 6 3 FMS y I I! PatentedApr. 2,1940

PATENT OFFlCE' DEVICE FOR PROTECTION AGAINST POISON GASES Granger, Fils,Paris, France Application March 11, 1937, Serial No. 130,408

In France March 16, 1936 2 Claims.

The present invention relates tov gas masks and more particularly to apractical and advantageous construction of a receptacle adapted tocontain an absorbent product, for instance, soda, to regenerate theexhaled air which may then be again aspirated together with a supply ofoxygen, for protection against poison gases.

The regenerating container, according to the invention, has thefollowing advantages: facility and security of filling and simultaneoususe of all the quantity of absorbent product which is thus saturatedslowly throughout and not rapidly at some points, as it does in sometypes of apparatus with the result of seriously impeding the circulationof air to be purified.

tainer according to the present invention reside in the provision of aparticular arrangement of the passages provided for the airto bepurified in the container, whereby the said air does not meet suchresistance as to quickly fatigue the user of the mask, while at the sametime the air is always, caused to meet regeneration surfaces withoutfollowing a direct and straight way between the inlet and the outlet ofthe container.

It is known that, in a respiratory apparatus having a closed circuit,the period of time which the user may use the apparatus depends for agiven volume of the apparatus, not only upon the internal resistanceoffered to the circulation of the air first exhaled and then aspiratedafter being regenerated, but also upon more or less good regeneration.For instance, if a portion of the exhaled air passes through theapparatus Without the carbonic acid contained in the air being retainedin the regenerating container, the duration of the life of the apparatusis the more reduced as the amount of non-regenerated air is moreimportant.

The devices used for obtaining the minimum resistance to the circulationof the air together with a good regeneration of this air are shown byway of example on the annexed drawing, in which:

45 Figure 1 is a section on the line l-l of Figure 2, showing aregenerating container according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view in perspective of a tube with grids which isintroduced intothe container on concluding the filling thereof.

The container 4 is provided with an inlet pipe is and an outlet pipe 6for the passage of air through the apparatus intended to contain a Theessential features of a regenerating con- I product absorbing carbonicacid and the moisture in the exhaled air. This product is, for instance,

soda.

The container is also provided with an orifice l5a which may be closedby a threaded stopper. 5 The filling and the emptying of the absorbentmaterial in and from the container take place through this orifice.Beneath the orifice lie is a vertical passageway l lawhich is incommunica tion with a plurality of horizontally disposed 1 compartmentsl6 formed by'horizontal grids l3 and vertical corrugated or undulatedgrids 21. The said compartments 16 contain the absorbent product. Thecompartment Ila is separated by. partitions l 3a from each corrugatedpassage pro- 13 vided between twogrids 21 or between a grid 21 and acorrugated plate 21a. The width of these corrugated passages is forinstance 2 mm.

The corrugations of the grids 21 and of the plates 21a should fit withineach other, as shown 20 in Figure 2, so as to hinder a directcirculation of the air in a straight line. But, these corrugationsshould only be deep enough to produce a minimum resistance to thepassage of air. Figure 2 shows such a device fulfilling both con- 35ditions and permitting the air to pass almost but not in a straightdirection.

At'the lower part and at the upper part of the receptacle 4 and oppositethe orifices of each of the pipes 6 and I8, there are two inner invertedso diffusors 25 having the shape of funnels and in front of each ofwhich is fitted a baflle 26 forming .a screen.

At their upper and lower extremities, these vertical grids are solderedto solid elements of 35 the horizontal grids I 3 which elements arethemselves separated from each of the baflles 26 by a suplementaryhorizontal grid 28 which extends over the whole surface occupied in thereceptacle 4- by the absorbent product in IS.

By means of the diffusor 25 and the baflie 26, the exhaled air passingthrough the pipe 18 are distributed'over the whole surface of the uppergrid 28 and then pass into the space left between the partitionsconstituted by the undulated and vertical grids 21, the distanceseparating two grids from the same partition being calculated in suchmanner as to correspond to the amount of air flowing between the grids.On meeting the undulations of the grids 21, this air is directed w on tothe absorbent product whereby it loses its impurities. On reaching thelower part of the receptacle 4, the air exhaled by the user is thustotally freed from its impurities, the particles of water carried alongcome onto the lower baflle I 2. and fall onto the free and slightlyinclined extremity of the lower difiusor 25 which causes them tocondense in the cavity or chamber 28 from whence they cannot pass intothe pipe 6.

Whatever may be the position of the user of the protective device, theseparticles of water are always retained in one of the two chambers 29which are closed so as to prevent these particles of water both fromgetting into one or the other of the pipes 6 or I8 or of returning intothe part of the receptacle 4 containing the absorbent product IS.

The various elements of the grids or metal horizontal fabrics l3 may bemounted as shown by Fig. 2 of the drawing, that is to say, they may bedistributed according to bafiles between the vertical and undulatedgrids 21.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present inventionprovides a receptacle for use in connection with gas masks wherein theabsorbent material is removable by tilting the container 'toward thepassage Ila and then discharging it through the opening l5a. To renewthe absorbent material it is only necessary to place a sufficientquantity in the passage l1 and then tilt the receptacle in the oppositedirection to that in which it is emptied and thus pack the material inthe compartments l6. This operation may be repeated until thecompartments are filled. Since the spaces between the sinuous walls 21and 21--21a are blocked by the walls |3a at the passage l1, these spaceswill be kept clear for the passage of air. After the compartments havebeen filled, the perforate unit l'l containing absorbent material may beinserted in the vertical passage "a.

I claim:

1. In a container for absorbent material intended to regenerate exhaledair in a respirating apparatus for protection against poison gases, a

container body having upper and lower gas orifices and a fillingopening, means forming a passage parallel to a side wall of thecontainer and below said filling opening, spaced horizontal grids eachhaving one end abutting one sided the casing and their opposite endterminating in amazes a plane defining one wall of said passage,vertically spaced grids cooperating with said horizontal grids toprovide compartments opening at one end into said passage, said verticalgrids being corrugated and arranged to provide sinuous air passagescommunicating with the upper and lower gas orifices and the depth of thecorrugations being such as to present a minimum resistance to air flowwhile causing the air to meet successively the corrugations of thevertical grids in which the absorbent material is packed, and means atthe ends ofsaid vertical grids located adjacent said passage to preventabsorbent material from entering the spaces between the corrugatedvertical grids.

2. A regeneration unit for use in poison gas masks, comprising a casinghaving a filling opening at one corner provided with a removable cap,inlet and outlet connections for the casing, a plurality of absorbentcontainers in the casing and arranged to abut one of the inner sidewalls thereof and spaced from the other inner side wall to provideavertical passage below the filling opening, said absorbent containerseach including a pair of corrugated perforate partitions disposedvertically in the casing and the adjacent walls of adjacent containersbeing spaced apart to provide a sinuous air circulating passage, aplurality of horizontal foraminous grids arranged in vertically spacedrelation between each pair of said partitions and forming cellscommunicating at one end with said vertical passage to receive absorbentmaterial inserted through the filling opening, corrugated platesarranged between the outer perforate partitions of the containers andthe casing to provide additional sinuous air passages, and wall memberslocated in said vertical passage and fitted to the ends of thecorrugated perforate partitions and also between said corrugatedperforate partitions and said plates to prevent absorbent material fromentering the said sinuous air passages formed by the corrugatedpartitions and plates thereby to maintain said sinuous passages clearfor the passage of air.

LOUIS GRANGER, FILS.

